F1 UniONE CAREER S4 (2017 Season)
2016 Season [S3] 2018 Season S5 Overview Season 4 of the F1 UniONE CAREER will be contested on the F1 2017 game. Teams & Drivers The following teams are confirmed enterants for the 2017 F1 season. Reserve Drivers; Scuderia Ferrari - Adrian Sutil Mercedes AMG Petronas - Madison Snow Infiniti Renault Sport - Valtteri Bottas Scuderia Toro Rosso - Niko Kari BMW Williams Martini - Robert Kubica Haas-BMW Automotive - Mick Schumacher McLaren-Honda - Will Stevens Red Bull Aston Martin - Carlos Sainz Sauber F1 Team - Thomas Laurent BWT Toyota Force India - Kamui Kobayashi Pre-Season Testing Driver Transfers; Scuderia Ferrari - Ferrari keep on 5 time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, as well as capturing free agent, Jean-Eric Vergne. Mercedes AMG Petronas - Fernando Alonso stays on for a second season. Pascal Wehrlien is promoted to the works team to partner the 2 time World Champion, as Valtteri Bottas chose to take a sabbatical year out of F1, whilst also signing for Renault as their reserve driver, should his services be required. Infiniti Renault Sport - Renault name an unchanged driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo. The team expecing higher than 9th in the Constructor's. Scuderia Toro Rosso - Carlos Sainz was understandably frustrated that he wasn't given the opportunity to fill the vacant seat at Red Bull, despite out scoring Max Verstappen in 2016. Sainz's new team mate was to be Frenchman, Pierre Gasly, who make the move up from Super Formula. BMW Williams Martini - The 2016 Constructor's Champion's keep on defending World Champion, Josh Tirowee for another season. Sebastian Buemi also stays on at the British team for a third season. Haas-BMW Automotive - Lance Stroll is promoted to the BMW B-Team, on a two year contract. After being deemed fit to race by the FIA, Robert Kibica returns to F1, with unfinished buisseness with BMW. McLaren-Honda - McLaren keep on Rio Haryanto, after an impressive debut season, with a best finish of 2nd at Germany. Partnering the Indonesian, was to be 2015 Lotus driver, Carmen Jorda, after proving she could beat Josh Tirowee with the same machienery. Red Bull Aston Martin - Danil Kvyat starts his second full season with the team, hoping the change from Renault to Cosworth Power Units can help deliver him his first World Driver's Championship. Max Verstappen was promoted to the Sister team to partner the young Russian. Sauber F1 Team - After inspired performances in the final rounds of the 2016, Adrian Sutil saves his seat at the Swiss team, whilst also becoming the Ferrari Reserve Driver. Ferrari's next young driver, Antinio Giovinazzi was to partner the German. Aston Martin GT driver, Thomas Laurent is to compete in 5 races for the Swiss team, as part of the deal between Red Bull and Ford, for Sauber to recieve free Cosworth Power Units for 2017. BWT Toyota Force India - Toyota reurn to F1, and intend to make their presence knows, as they sign 2008 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton on a 2 year contract, with an option for a third year. Partnering the Brit, was Esteban Ocon, after an impressive debut season. Team Performances; Mercedes AMG Petronas - Mercedes look to have returned to winning ways, as Alonso topping the time sheets during winter testing. Also, Mercedes' reliability looks to be much improved from 2016. AMG had managed to get their hands firmly on the Mercedes Power Unit for the W08H. Their work looks to have paid off. With the all new MB-AMG H-ONE01 second only to BMW's M-Sport03H, for raw power, Mercedes were the early favourites for the 2017 Championships. Scuderia Ferrari - It was well known that Ferrari started work on their 2017 challenger early in 2016, and their work looks to have paid off. The Maranello team look to be hot-on-the-heals of Mercedes, with the Ferrari SF062H Power Unit only at a slight deficit to Mercedes. However, Ferrari were confident their superior chassis and aerodynamics would be enough to overhaul Mercedes. Red Bull Aston Martin - Red Bull terminated their contract with Renault for engines, after a frustrating 2016 season, with multiple engine failures. Aston Martin wanted to increase their involvement with the team, however as the British motor company don't make their own race engines, Ford came in to supply the RB13 with their new Cosworth CA2017H. As Ford supply Aston Martin with race engines in other catagories. Ford were confident their new breed of F1 engine would be much more successful than 2010-2013 efforts. BMW Williams Martini - The 2016 Constructor's Champions enter their 40th year of compitition. However, they looked to have slipped a long way off of the front running pace, as the new regulations and car designs have not played to the team's strengths. It's a well known fact that aerodynamics have never been William's strong point. Once again, the British team will be ever reliant on their BMW M-Sport03H Power Unit to drag their cars up the order. BWT Toyota Force India - Toyota bought out the struggling Force India team at the close of the 2016 season. However, to reduce the cost of the buyout, Toyota will use Mercedes-AMG engines for 2017, as Force India were already contracted to recieve their H-ONE01 engines. This will give the Japanese team a further year to work on their engine design, as they look to beat their other native rivals, Mugen-Honda. BWT become the team's main sponsors, which many in the F1 paddock found to be irocic. As the Toyota's cars will be pink, and the red and white from their last partnership with Panasonic would make pink, if the colours were mixed together. Toyota also look to lead the midfeild battle, going into the start of the season. Toyota were confident, as their car design is relatively high-downforce for a mid-field car, assured by AMG their Power Unit will deliver. Infiniti Renault Sport - Renault look to be much improved, as 2017 is their first proper year of compitition in the V6 Hybrid era, as the chassis and aerodynamics of the RS17 is all the design of the team. Without the added pressure of Red Bull's demands, Renault are now free to develop their car how they see fit. Haas-BMW Automotive - The american team look to build on an ecouraging first season in F1, finishing 7th in the Constructor's. Once again, Haas were hoping the raw power of the BMW M-Sport03H would help boost them up the grid, to compete with Renault and Toyota on a regular basis. As Robert Kubica completed the most laps during winter testing, the team were confidednt of taking 6th or higher in the Constructor's. BMW have also stated, that Haas will recieve extra Power Unit upgrades throughout the season, as Williams look for a pathway to get them back to the front of the grid. Scuderia Toro Rosso - With the loss of Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso look to have slipped back over the winter. Franz Tost admitted it would be a real struggle for the team to finish 5th in the Constructor's for a second year running. However, the team were confident of a podium finish, as they've done so, in at least one race, in each of the 3 seasons in the V6 Hybrid era. The Italian team also sign a new 2 year deal with Renault for Power Units. McLaren-Honda - McLaren were expectant that Honda could build off and excelent 2016 campaign, with a highest finish of 2nd (Haryanto at Germany). However, the Honda look to have gone back to 2015, as the their Power Unit looks to be inferior once again to BMW, AMG, Ferrari, Renault and Cosworth. Haryanto even stated the car is "Dangerously slow on the straights. We're not far off 15pmh slower than the Saubers". Mugen also return to F1, for the first time since 2000, in an attempt to return McLaren to their winning ways of 1988-1993. One thing McLaren have going for them is their excellent chassis and aerodynamics, meaning on slower speed circuits, such as Monaco and Singapore, the team expect top 12 finishes. Sauber F1 Team - After a dismal 2016 campain, in which they finished last in the Constructor's Championship, for the first time in their history. This lead to Swiss team being hit with finincial difficulties over the winter. A lack of funding means a lack of car develoment. Due to this, their car is only 1.2 seconds faster per lap than their 2016 challegner, when best Pre-Season laps are compared. Whereas, the top teams have found gains of over 3 seconds. Also, Sauber sign a deal with Ford and Red Bull, where Sauber must allow French Aston Martin junior GT driver, Thomas Laurent to compete in the Belgian Grand prix, as it's the closest to France, and also the final 4 races of the season. In return, Sauber will recieve free Cosworth CA2017H Power Units for the 2017 season. These engines will also be to the same spec as Red Bull's, and both teams will recieve upgrades at the same time. * Manor F1 Team - Despite finishing 10th in the Constructor's Championship in 2016, Manor bosses saw they would make a finincal loss if they continued in F1 in 2017. After beating out Caterham and HRT, in the 'New Team' battle, F1 returns to having only 10 teams on the grid. Manor turn their attentions to their WEC programme, which lead to one of their cars finishing 7th overall, and 6th in class, in the 2017 Le Mans 24H. Pre-Season Testing Results Regulation Changes For 2017, the cars were to under go significant change. Tyres are wider, front wings are wider and cureved. Rear wings are wider and lower. This meant the cars were able to follow better in the dirty air of the car infront. Also, lap times were in excess or 3 seconds quicker, during Pre-Season testing. However it's very track dependant as to how much quicker the cars will be. 'Shark Fins' also return, for the first time since 2010. Engines were increased to 2.0 V6 Hybrides, instead of the 1.6 V6 Hybrids engines used from 2014-2016. The idea behind this was to attempt to end BMW's dominant reign, as their BMW M-Sport02H Power Unit gave the Williams team almost 20mph extra in straigh line speed. However BMW look to have kept their girp firmly at the top of the table for pure engine power, but AMG and Ferrari look to be a lot closer. Affected most by the change was Honda. The Japeniese team look to have slipped back to their 2015 state, and have significant gains to make if they're to challenge the front runners. Spare cars also return, for the first time since the 2007 season. However, spare cars are only to be used following a Red Flag situation on lap on of each race. Restarts will happen using the original qualifying positions. Each team is required to have one 'T Car' prepared for each race meeting. In the event that a driver is unable to take the restart, the reserve driver will take their place on the grid. Season Calendar Hungary returns to the F1 calendar, after a 1 year absence. Germany will not host an F1 race for at least the next 3 years, due to lack of funds. Race Results Championship Standings Points were awarded to the top 12 classified finishers using the following structure: In the event of a tie, a count-back system was used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's best result used to decide the standings. Points Tables; Click on the table to enlarge it Key; * Gold - Race Winner * Silver - Second Place * Bronze - Third Place * Turquoise - Points Finish (4th - 12th) * Blue - Classified finish outside of the points paying positions * Blue ^ - Driver did not finish, but was still classified, as they retired within the final 6 laps of the race * Purple - Did Not Finish * Black - Disqualified * White - Driver/ Team did not race